A need exists for foldable children's playhouses that may be easily erected and disassembled for storage in compact form. This would allow the playhouse to be moved readily to various locations both inside and outside. Desirable features for such playhouses include a structure having a minimum number of parts to be lost or misplaced and sturdiness and high strength when assembled. Preferably the walls should to the maximum extent be made of integral pieces that fold along vertical lines for assembly and disassembly. Storage would be facilitated by providing a structure that allows portions of the house to serve as a container capable of enclosing the remaining parts in compact, fold-up condition so that there would be no need for a separate storage or shipping container.
Various foldable playhouse structures are disclosed in prior art patents. U.S. Pat. No. 3,231,942 discloses a structure having a pair of side walls and a pair of end walls, the end walls being made up of two halves hinged together so as to fold together along a vertical line at the middle thereof. The roof includes two halves each having a pitched roof section hinged to a flat roof section, the roof being separable along the top between the adjoining flat roof sections. Trapezoidal gables that extend upward from the end walls support the roof sections, and U-shaped channels are provided in the underside of the roof sections to receive top edges of the gables. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,977,119 and 4,190,978 disclose a playhouse made up of two equal parts, each part including a rectangular side wall, two half end walls, and a roof, all of these parts connected along fold lines. The structure shown in these patents have their ends walls and roofs each made up of separate parts so that their weakest points are along top of the roof and the vertical line between parts of the end walls. It is desired to provide a foldable playhouse with an integral roof that includes a reinforcing beam on its top to provide high strength and to avoid having end walls that are made up of two parts. In addition, the playhouse assembly should fold to a compact, self-contained package for storage and/or shipping.